He loved these Polish Christmas carols. He sang loudly and with joy; and, from his head. He was starting with “In Night’s still silence”, and then the others were following. I think that we sang about ten of these Christmas carols during the Christmas Eve. At the end, there was his favorite Christmas carol: “O Little One, Little One”. There are legends of how many verses John Paul II added to this Christmas carol while singing. As, every time during the Christmas caroling he sang it with friends, so many times he was adding some verses from his heart. He was spontaneously adding them to the joy of all who caroled with him. There was always something about friends. About those who were at the table – recalls the Archbishop with a smile. –It always caused a lot of laughter. No one was writing it as, after all, the mood was so solemn, such a special moment. No one was sitting with a pen and writing it. And it’s a great pity today. Christmas Eve was the beginning of a great Christmas caroling at the Vatican and Castel Gandolfo. As starting from the Christmas Eve, the Pope along with his friends was singing Christmas carols every evening. Everyone who sang with him remembers it with emotions. As there was some extraordinary depth in it – says the Archbishop – and, at the same time, this child’s joy, about which we are talking so much. The Holy Father really read the Gospel in these Christmas carols. And, he has often said that they bring us into the heart of the mystery of incarnation. Besides, he liked it a lot and it certainly reminded him of Polish Christmas.
With the permission of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki, “A place for everybody”
‘Znak’ Publishing House, Krakow 2013
